Road kill increases as tourist head to Snowy ski resorts

An animal rescue group in the New South Wales south east is urging motorists to slow down to help reverse a spike in wildlife deaths.

Genene Green from the far south east branch of WIRES says the service is receiving a high volume of call-outs over winter.

Ms Green says the seasonal tourist traffic is one factor behind the increase.

She says dry winter grass is also forcing animals closer to the roadside to feed.

“Kangaroos, wombats, wallabies etc come close to the road because the road is mown so cars can see things,” Ms Green said.

“Because that grass is mown, it’s that lush green little tips coming through all the time.

“So if they slow down it may be the difference between hitting the animal and not hitting the animal.”

Ms Green highlighted one road in the region which was recording higher than usual road-kills.

She says Wanatta Road at Frogs Hollow, south of Bega, is particularly bad at the moment.

“We're getting calls of about three or four animals out there a day,” Ms Green said.

“And that's because the road has gone from a dirt road to a gravel road with the new Bega tip coming in, and there's no signage up there at the moment of how many kilometres per hour people are allowed to drive along there.”